While Chicago's top cop is crediting a new strategy of police swarming high-crime areas of the city with last month's decreased homicide rate, he hopes another new push, announced Monday, will continue that trend into the warmer months ahead.

The 20 targeted "hot zones" -- home to 3 percent of the city and 20 percent of its violence -- are the same areas of the city that have seen an increased police presence thanks to the department doubling the number of officers approved to work overtime on their days off. According to the Chicago Tribune, despite a January spike of violence, homicides so far this year are down 35 percent in Chicago, when compared to 2012 numbers, and shootings are down about 30 percent through Sunday.

The announcement won the praise of Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), whose South Side ward has seen more than its fair share of violence in recent months.

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A Chicago police officer picks through debris at the crime scene early Friday, Sept. 20, 2013, where a number of people, including a 3-year-old child, were shot Thursday night in a city park in Chicago. Thursday night's attack was the latest violence in a city that has struggled to stop such shootings by increasing police patrols. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)